Congratulations and welcome to the forums! Have fun planning your big day in Aruba!!! This is a great site to get started with all your planning... so much information can be found here and tips from vendors and brides! Do a quick search to find almost anything you need.

Congratulations and welcome to the forums! Have fun planning your big day in Aruba!!! This is a great site to get started with all your planning... so much information can be found here and tips from vendors and brides! Do a quick search to find almost anything you need.

Hello Brides! I am in the process of planning my wedding and have narrowed it down to the Occidental i think! Before i put down a deposit, can anyone please give me advice or pictures of their special day! Thanks!

I just had my wedding at occidental in April 2012 and was devastating upset. Here is a list!

1) Booking and canceling are common occurrences during planing a destination wedding. It was difficult to contact the hotel liaison who books and cancels the room. It was very frustrating for my travel agent in the end. They only have 1 liaison! Can you believe this? And when she was out sick there was no one for us to contact. Very unprofessional. And gave us such a hassle.

2) The day of my wedding coordinator didn't have an itinerary for me and my group.

3) She left the wrist bands on my wedding entourage which she specifically told me she was going to remove! Now my wedding photos are ruined.

4) I couldn't get a hold of her the day after the wedding. It was her day off! And I had no one to talk to discuss the wedding.

5) She left the wedding party early and there was no one left I can talk to after the party if I needed anything.

6) The DJ they supplied me with kept on saying that our parents paid for the wedding which was an insult to us!

7) The DJ played the son and mother dance Luther Vandross - Dance with my Father when I choose Boys II Men - Song for Momma. Especially upsetting when my husband's father is alive and well.

8) The Occidental hotel was upset when one of my wedding group lost their wrist bands the day of the wedding. Can't they realized during the chaos of the wedding day something like this can't be avoid. They were threatening to kick one of my guest out of the hotel.

9) My wedding coordinator pinned the boutonnieres on the pocket of the vest not the lapel! What wedding coordinator does this?!?

After I explained her all my complaints, she apologized and I received an apology letter from the DJ group. I still feel that robbed of my perfect destination wedding.

My wedding is this coming September in Aruba and we are staying at the Occidental Grand Aruba. We did have difficulty with the wedding Coordinator there at the resort in getting back to us and over charging for what they had to offer, so we decided to look else where. I found a company called http://www.dreamweddingsaruba.com/ who we are going through, great prices and great feed back so far. I will post after we return to let you know how it goes, but so far they have made the planning and everything so easy, they are picking us up at the hotel and everything. Hope this helps in anyway, we just wanted something quiet, simple, and intimate for us and our guests and that is what we are going to get not having it at the resort where everyone can watch. Totally recommend them as of now. Best of luck!!

Hello, I am newly engage and we are planning on having a destination wedding. The Occidental Grand Aruba is one of our top choices. We have never been there before and we would appreciate any info you can give us about your wedding there!

I am newly engaged and we are planning a destination wedding. Occidental Grand Aruba is one of our top choices but we have never been there before. We would appreciate anything you can share with us about your wedding experience.

I'm in the beginning stages of planning a destination wedding with our travel agent, we've narrowed our choice down to two places: Aruba and Puerta Vallarta for next August (these two places seem to be out of hurricane disasters!) The travel agent we're working with listed the Occidental as one of 3 different all inclusive resorts that she thinks we will like...I see that you got married there and was wondering if you have a review anywhere?!